First off I have to commend the staff at the Casino New Brunswick venue right from their media rep, to their fun and cordial box office staff, to the smiling bar tenders in the lobby lounge; this is a very pleasant venue in which to see a show. Tonight, as you gathered by the title, it’s Australian rock band INXS!
The band first formed in 1977 as ‘The Ferris Brothers’ (three of the members are Ferris brothers) but later became INXS in 1979, and went on to chart their first number one hit with “Original Sin” in 1984 off their album “Swing”. Original Sin was written by original front man Michael Hutchence who fronted the band for twenty years until the time of his shocking death in 1997. The band had a string of hits through the 80’s and 90’s such as the aforementioned ‘Original Sin’, ‘Devil Inside’, ‘Need You Tonight’, and ‘Suicide Blonde’. In 2005, INXS participated in the reality show “Rockstar” where they selected Canadian J.D. Fortune, originally from Pictou County, Nova Scotia, as their new lead singer.
INXS (J.D. Fortune) - Live @ Casino NB - Moncton, NB - Canada 07/07/11
Upon arrival at the show I graciously got my ticket upgraded by the ever so kind ladies in the box office and headed to the front row, not that I’d be in my seat long, I’ll explain that in a minute. I would have been ok from the seat I was in because it was afforded a great view of the stage. When the band came on, I almost thought they had an opening act because they started with three drummers on stage, I was a bit confused, but then their preemptive drum barrage that blasted us up to the next level of anticipation ended and the fellas manned their regular stations, and then I realized it was the three Ferris brothers who were our percussive introduction. The band launched right into “Suicide Blonde” and out came J.D. to blast us back to 1990 and we were on our way! Now I mentioned I wouldn’t be in my seat long, well many concert goers ran to the front of the stage, hesitant thinking security would make them sit back down (which being forced to sit in a seat at a concert is just silly to me), but the band encouraged people to come on down, so I leapt to the front of the stage right below guitarist/saxophonist Kirk Pengilly and that’s where I remained the rest of the show!
The band soared through all the great INXS hits of the past, some great new songs, and did some interesting adaptations on others including a rather odd ‘countrified’ version of ‘New Sensation’ that one of the female back up singers sang (conversations after the show told me this was met with mixed reactions)
INXS - Live @ Casino NB - Moncton, NB - Canada 07/07/11
There were some interesting breaks in which, as I already said J.D. left stage and one of the back up singers sang ‘New Sensation’, nearer the end Kirk and keyboardist Andrew Ferris played a number on acoustic guitars (Andrew Ferris wearing one of the most bizarre looking hats I’ve ever seen). Speaking of hats, I’ve still yet to determine why guitar player Tim Ferris came on stage after a break in what looked like a jet pilot helmet and played a couple songs that way…that one kind of threw me off (anyone know what the heck that was about?), but hey I can’t complain the man’s favorite guitar is a 1956 Stratocaster which is just plain cool.
The band brought things to a close at one point, but the crowd wasn’t done with them just yet, banging their hands on the stage and cheering and clapping to bring the guys back onstage for a couple more songs leaving the crowd happy and wanting more! I was impressed with J.D.’s ability to perform the classics with the same tones and inflections that we all know of former singer Hutchence (although he’s got to be one of the hardest singers to take a picture of I’ve ever seen!) and was thoroughly entertained by the band.
I have to say I can’t say enough about the venue, acoustically they just got it right when they designed this place as the sound is impeccable. After an hour and forty-five minutes, I would definitely, recommend seeing INXS live if you have the opportunity, as they put on a tight and entertaining show! Until next time!
As a fan of a band that I am interested in, I always want to see a Set-List among the review, not just 2 or 3 of the songs that they played. After reading concert reviews for the last 35 years, I rarely ever read a review that gives me the set list in it’s entirety, so I assume that it is not considered “Good Journalism”, to do so, but I am a ROCK Fan when I am reading a concert review, not a Literary Teacher grading a pupils work. I don’t even care if words are mispelled, I want the review to put me in the audience as if I were there, and if I were there I would want to know which songs are being played.
I give this review a 2.25 stars out of 5 stars, the song list is worth 2 stars itself, afterall, the songs are the main reason we go to the shows!
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